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Migrants’ Voices Negotiating Autonomy in Santa Cruz

Migrants’ Voices Negotiating Autonomy in Santa Cruz

The regional autonomy movement based in Santa Cruz draws on long-standing regional divisions, and it has solidified amid the breakdown of the elite-led political party system and the national election of Evo Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Toward Socialism—MAS). Critics and national government supporters view regional autonomy as a defensive stance taken by elites against the redistributive policies, expansion of indigenous sovereignty, and widening popular democracy under the MAS. But lowland regional leaders and elites have begun to present autonomy as inclusive and popular in order to broaden support and challenge the Morales government. Largely removed from debates over autonomy are migrants to the rapidly urbanizing city of Santa Cruz who in many cases experience uneven integration into host communities. Despite the autonomists’ efforts at fostering inclusion and popular buy-in, highland migrants’ support for autonomy is weak, while lowland migrants generally favor autonomy and skilled highlanders—more integrated into Santa Cruz—tend to support it conditionally. Migrants of all three groups perceive class disparities within the city to be as salient as regional and ethnic divisions.

Catalans rally for greater autonomy

More than a million people have gathered in northeastern Barcelona to demand greater regional autonomy for Catalonia and protest against a recent court ruling forbidding the prosperous region from calling itself a nation.

  

City government spokesman Manuel Campillo said police had counted 1.1 million people at a vast rally on Saturday that filled Barcelona's major Gran Via, Diagonal and Paseo de Gracia

boulevards. Rally organisers, Omnium Cultural, calculated attendance at 1.5 million, spokesman Daniel Jove said.

  

Spain's courts recently granted sweeping new powers of self-rule to the region, but on Friday its highest court ruled that the country's Constitution recognised Spain as the country's only nation, dealing a blow to efforts by Catalonia to assume that status.

  

The verdict came after four years of debate in which conservative and liberal judges locked horns over whether the charter went beyond the limits of Spain's system of granting varying degrees of self-rule to its 17 regions.

  

Catalans have their own language and are proud of a history which, until 1714, linked them to the independent Kingdom of Aragon.

  

During the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (1939-1975) Catalans were forbidden from speaking their language and it was illegal to publish books in Catalan.

  

Jove said about 1400 Catalan organisations, including political parties, trade unions as well as cultural and business associations, had called on members to gather.

  

Sunny, hot weather enticed many people to attend the rally. Television news reports showed a huge crowd waving Catalan nationalist flags, chanting and carrying banners saying "We are a Nation".

Fabian appeals to P-Noy for Zambo as reg’l capital anew

Fabian made this appeal live on  national television where he was invited to be one of the guests in the weekly national talk show titled ‘Congress in Action’ of the  National Broadcasting Network (NBN-4) last  Tuesday night.
The solon said that Zamboanga City is still the ideal and best location for a government center here in the region, considering its strategic location and viability in terms of economic  stature and basic infrastructure needed by the government offices in performing their work.
“I have nothing against Pagadian for that matter, but I believe that our city is still the best location for the regional center,” Fabian stressed.
The official said that a lot of humanitarian and economic considerations should be looked into with regards to this issue, considering the displacement of the families of the affected government employees and their financial adjustments working in a distant place while residing here in the city.
It can be recalled that former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed all regional offices based here in Zamboanga City to transfer to Pagadian City following an executive order which was also complied by majority of the government regional offices based here in the city.
Similarly, Fabian also reiterated his position with regards to the revival on the issue of the Autonomous Region. The solon said that he is steadfast in his position and one with the Zamboangenos in opposing to be part of the ARMM.
He said that the government should look into the position of the local officials and the people who have spoken several times and made their stand openly against the regional autonomy being proposed by some sectors.
“The people have spoken, me and other local officials of the city have set aside our political affiliations and interests in fighting for our unwavering support to each and everyone here in saying NO to Autonomy,” Fabian said.

Regional Autonomy in Indonesian

Regional Autonomy in Indonesian

Effective on January 1, 2001 the government of Indonesia has been implementing the policy on regional autonomy. Policy of regional autonomy is covered and regulated in two laws, namely Law No. 22 Year 1999 on Regional Governance and Law No.. 25 Year 1999 on Financial Balance between Central and Local. To support both these laws, the government has issued several additional government regulations to accelerate the implementation of the decentralization policy. In this context, there are at least three government regulations have been issued so far.

Both these laws are subject to a wide-seluasnya freedom of action to the area but still within the framework of regional autonomy, which is responsible for setting and rule over the territory independently without any interference from the central government based on local community initiatives and aspirations in accordance with conditions and the potential for their respective regions. The presence of both laws can be viewed as the positive impact of the reform process of the rolling since the economic crisis that marks a paradigm change, namely changes in the government system from centralized to decentralized systems.

The main purpose of the Law No. 22 Year 1999 is to lay the groundwork for the implementation of regional autonomy by giving discretion to the local freedom of action in order to become an autonomous region in an effort to preserve the integrity of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia (Homeland) in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution of 1945. Implementation of regional autonomy is widely based on the principles of democracy, responsibility, community participation, equality and justice as well as consideration of potential and diversification of the region.

Meanwhile, the main purpose of Law No. 25 Year 1999 is to effectively increase the ability of regional economies, to create a fair system of local finance and realization of system financial balance between central and local.

Special Autonomous for Bali

Special Autonomous for Bali

Chile's Mapuches Call for Regional Autonomy

Chile's Mapuches Call for Regional Autonomy

Leaders of Chile's indigenous Mapuche community have seized upon the death of activist Jaime Mendoza Collío to rev up their long-standing campaign for land reform and political autonomy in southern Chile. Simmering tensions that periodically burst into brief fits of violence have come to mark the Araucanía in southern Chile, the area in which most of the country's 900,000 Mapuches live.

Military police shot the 24-year-old Mapuche activist to death on August 12 in an operation mounted to dislodge a group of activists from a piece of seized land in the southern town of Collipulli.

The ongoing conflict is rooted in the backlog of unsatisfied demands for land by Mapuche claimants. The Bachelet administration, counseling patience and dialogue, has stepped up the tortoise-like pace of land reform. The Inter-Press Service reports that the Bachelet administration has now granted 35 percent of the 1.5 million acres of land that has devolved to indigenous communities since 1994. The central government purchased and distributed 345,000 acres, with transfers of public lands or awards of title to previously distributed lands making up the balance, according to José Aylwin of the NGO Observatorio Ciudadano.

But the pace of land reform is still painfully slow for many Mapuche communities, a number of which have resorted to civil disobedience to speed up the process. In late July, after failing to receive an audience with President Bachelet or Araucanía's Governor Nora Barrientos, a group of Mapuche communities launched a series of land invasions. It was in one of these seizures that Mendoza Collío was killed.

The mounting tensions have also led to a spike in militant activity by radical Mapuche activists. The Coordinadora Arauco Malleco attacked a bus and two trucks outside of Temuco in the month of July. In response, a paramilitary group known as the Comando Hernán Trizano said it would use arms and explosives to "put an end to the Mapuche conflict."

The Chilean government's reaction to Mapuche acts of land seizure and vandalism has attracted international attention and criticism for its harsh severity, calling into question Chile's reputation as one of the hemisphere's most strongly consolidated democracies. On a recent visit to Chile, for example, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, characterized the August 12 killing of Mendoza Collío as an "unjustified homicide."

The Chilean government has invoked an anti-terrorism statute from the Pinochet era to punish radical Mapuche protesters who seize land and willfully destroy property. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has declared the Pinochet-era Anti-Terrorism Law in violation of international law, although the Chilean state has yet to change it. The U.N. Committee for the Elimination of Racism also recently criticized the Chilean government for applying the Anti-Terrorism Law "principally to members of the Mapuche community, for acts committed in the context of social demands and related to the vindication of their ancestral land rights."

Now Mapuche political leaders are taking the logic of land reform one step further and demanding regional autonomy for Wallmapu, as Mapudungun speakers call the Araucanía.

In an appearance on the television talk show Tolerancia Cero that took place shortly after Mendoza Collío's death, a spokesman for the Council of All Lands (Consejo de Todas las Tierras), Aucán Huilcamán, proposed the creation of an autonomous, self-governed area south of the Bío Bío River. Huilcamán cited the rights to political self-determination and regional autonomy granted by the 2007 U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the legal basis for the demand. He likened the group's vision of regional autonomy to that enjoyed by the Miskito in Nicaragua or the Inuit of Greenland, and proposed that its government apparatus be financed in part by the Chilean central government, since the Chilean state "from the moment it took over, usurped, and confiscated the territory of the Mapuche, has a debt—in economic, cultural and even moral terms."

Huilcán is not the only Mapuche leader who has settled on regional autonomy as a political goal. The Associated Press reported on August 15 that "dozens of Indian communities agreed to form the Mapuche Territorial Alliance to fight for political autonomy." The alliance may soon be augmented by as many as 60 more Mapuche communities who have expressed interest in joining the group.

A third group, called Wallmapuwen (invoking the Mapudungun name for the Araucanía), which is struggling to become Chile's first official Mapuche political party, has taken the most concrete steps to push toward making regional autonomy a reality. Wallmapuwen was officially formed in February 2006 to advance the goal of regional autonomy for the Mapuche. The group's founders continue to struggle to gain the necessary 5,000 signatures necessary to become incorporated as an official political party under Chilean law.

In a meeting on August 29 with Minister for Indigenous Affairs José Antonio Viera Gallo, Wallmapuwen leaders delivered an outline for their proposal for regional autonomy. The draft advances not only a reconstituted, decentralized local government, but also calls for a new constitution that would recognize Chile as a plurinational state and raise Mapudungun to the status of an official language. The national legislature would be required to reserve seats for Mapuche representatives in order to guarantee representation.

Following the meeting, Wallmapuwen leader Gustavo Quilaqueo said, "There are numerous modern democracies that see state decentralization as an opportunity and in no way as a threat. Our political class, including those who govern today, need to stop being so provincial on this subject."

Coordinating a political project as sweeping as a new constitution and the creation of an autonomous regional government is an ambitious goal, but it is becoming clear that to diffuse the violent tensions plaguing southern Chile, the Bachelet administration will soon have to address Mapuche political demands as well as land reform.

Sri Lankan Tamils drop demand for separate independent homeland

Sri Lankan Tamils drop demand for separate independent homeland

Sri Lanka's principal ethnic Tamil political party, formed as a proxy for militants fighting for an independent Tamil homeland, has abandoned its demand for a separate state in favour of regional autonomy.

The Tamil National Alliance, which was founded in 2001, said it would accept a "federal structure" for the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Though widely anticipated, the move is of great symbolic significance, and reinforces the sense that the 25-year civil war that killed between 80,000 and 100,000 is definitively over.

The TNA said it would continue to campaign for Tamil rights. "If the Sri Lankan state continues its present style of governance without due regard to the rights of the Tamil-speaking peoples, [we] will launch a peaceful, non-violent campaign of civil disobedience on the Gandhian model," the party said, in its manifesto for forthcoming parliamentary elections on 8 April.

Analysts said the TNA was adjusting to the political reality of the end of the civil war, and its current political weakness.

Last year the Sri Lankan military mounted a series of internationally controversial offensives which drove guerrillas from the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam from their enclaves in the north of the country. The military victory contributed to the re-election of Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in January.

Charu Lata Hogg, of Chatham House, said: "[The announcement] was expected in terms of the TNA moving towards the mainstream. Pragmatism dictates that they drop [the demand for statehood]. There's no internal constituency or international pressure for it."

Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka expert of the International Crisis Group, said: "The positive side is that they are looking to find space within the political system. However they are still many miles away from what [Rajapaksa] has said he would consider."

The coming parliamentary elections are likely to be an opportunity for Rajapaksa to consolidate his power. Aides have said the government hopes to obtain the two-thirds majority that would allow sweeping constitutional changes. Loyalists claim the reforms will streamline the government and increase minority representation. Critics fear the changes will cement an autocratic rule that threatens basic civil liberties.

The court martial of the defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka is expected to start on Tuesday. Fonseka, the former head of the Sri Lankan armed forces, is charged with participating in politics while in office and violating military procurement procedures.

Anura Dissanayake, a spokesman for the Democratic National Alliance, which is led by Fonseka, claimed the charges were politically motivated.

Despite his detention, Fonseka plans to contest the parliamentary elections.

One Sri Lankan analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the TNA switch was rooted in its current political weakness and its fear that it may lose heavily in the polls. Some Tamils are concerned that the political party will give up too much.

"The TNA cannot ask anything less than what it has asked for," said Manikkawasagara, a former government servant and a Tamil voter from the northern city of Jaffna, who was once an open supporter of the rebels."

The Tamil National Alliance, formed nine years ago, always stopped short of explicitly endorsing separatism, a demand which would have been illegal.

The Tamil Tigers agreed to a federal state in December 2002, but Norwegian-brokered talks collapsed in 2006.

LTTE LEADER CALLS FOR AUTONOMY AND SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR TAMIL HOMELAND

LTTE LEADER CALLS FOR AUTONOMY AND SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR TAMIL HOMELAND

In a radical move to clarify the policy orientation of his organisation, Mr Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) declared that he would favourably consider a political framework that offers substantial regional autonomy and self-government to the Tamil people on the basis of their right to internal self-determination.

Enunciating the organisation’s policy in his annual Heroes’ Day address today, the Tamil Tiger leader explained that the Tamil people want to live in freedom and dignity in their own historical homeland pursuing the development of their language, culture and economy and managing their own affairs under a system of self-rule.

Mr Pirapaharan appealed to the Sinhala people to support the aspirations of the Tamils for autonomy and self-government in their own lands. ‘If our demand for regional self-rule based on the right to internal self-determination is rejected, we have no alternative other than to secede and form an independent state,’ the Tamil leader declared.

Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the peace negotiations between the government and his organisation, Mr Pirapaharan said that the keen interest shown by the international community over the current peace efforts and their offer of humanitarian assistance to the war affected population was encouraging. ‘It is our deepest desire that the current peace talks facilitated by Norway should succeed and all the communities living in the island should co-exist in harmony.’

The Tiger leader further said that the LTTE is prepared to discuss all issues underlying the ethnic conflict. ‘But the talks should be conducted freely without constraints, without conditions, without timeframes. Imposing parameters or stipulating conceptual limits for political negotiations entails an infringement on the basic political freedom and choice of our people. The freedom to determine their political status and to pursue their social, cultural and economic development are the fundamental political rights of our people,’ Mr Pirapaharan explained.

The following are extracts from Mr Pirapaharan’s statement:

‘Our liberation struggle has reached a new historical turning point and entered into a new developmental stage. We are facing a new challenge. We have ceased armed hostilities and are now engaged in a peaceful negotiating process to resolve the ethnic conflict. Our sincere and dedicated commitment to the peace process has falsified and demolished the propaganda campaign carried out by Sinhala chauvinists that we are enemies of peace.

Even on the issue of cease-fire, we took the initiative. We declared a unilateral cease-fire and called upon the government to reciprocate. The new government, which assumed power with a mandate for peace, reciprocated positively to our declaration of cease-fire. The mutually agreed cessation of hostilities came into effect on 23 February under the supervision of an international monitoring team. This cease-fire has been in force for the past nine months. There have been several provocative attempts by certain elements of the armed forces and anti-peace racist forces to disrupt the peace process. There were incidents in which several innocent Tamils were killed. Nevertheless, we maintained a rigid discipline and observed peace. This is a clear demonstration of our genuine commitment to the path of peace.

If a reasonable settlement to the Tamil national question could be realised by peaceful means we will make every endeavour, with honesty and sincerity to pursue that path. Our political objective is to ensure that our people should live in freedom and dignity in their homeland enjoying the right of self-rule. If this political objective could be realised by peaceful means, we are prepared to adopt that method.

We have never shown any disinclination to win the political rights of our people through peaceful means. We have participated in peace negotiations at different places, at different times in different historical circumstances i.e in Thimpu, in Delhi, in Colombo, in Jaffna and now in Thailand. All previous attempts to a negotiated political settlement ended in fiasco. These failures could only be attributed to the hard-line attitude and deceitful political approaches of previous Sri Lanka governments. Now, the government of Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe is attempting to resolve the problems of the Tamils with sincerity and courage. Furthermore, the current cease-fire, built on a strong foundation and the sincere efforts of the international monitoring mission to further stabilise it, has helped to consolidate the peace process. The capable and skilful facilitation by the Norwegians has also contributed to the steady progress of the current peace talks. Above all, the concern, interests and enthusiasm shown by the international community has given hope and encouragement to both parties. The ideal approach is to move the talks forward, systematically, step by step, standing on a strong foundation of peace and building mutual confidence.

As a consequence of the brutal war that continued incessantly for more than two decades, our people face enormous existential problems. The social and political infrastructures of the Tamil nation are in ruins. The cities, towns and villages have been razed to the ground. Houses, temples and schools have been destroyed. An ancient civilization that stood on our lands for centuries has been uprooted. It is not possible for our people to rebuild their ruined social and economic structures. It is a monumental humanitarian problem. We hope that the international community will view the problem sympathetically. We are relieved to learn that international governments have come forward to assist the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war damaged Tamil nation.

Though there is peace in the Tamil homeland, conditions of normalcy have not been restored. Under the cover of ‘high security zones’, the Sinhala armed forces are occupying residential areas and social, economic and cultural centres. Forty thousand troops are occupying Jaffna peninsula, which is a tiny geographical region with a dense population. The military occupation is suffocating the civilian masses and causing tensions. Jaffna, which is the cultural heartland of the Tamil people, has turned into an open prison. The occupying forces are using the civilians as their protective shields. As several villages, houses and roads are entrapped by occupation several thousands of internally displaced are unable to return to their residences. Unless this problem is resolved there is no possibility for normalcy and social peace to be restored to Jaffna.

It has always been our position that the urgent and immediate problems of our people should be resolved during the early stages of the peace talks. The former government of Sri Lanka rejected our position. As a result the peace talks broke down. There was a misconception on the part of the former regime that we were hesitant to take up the fundamental political issues and insisted on the resolution of the immediate problems. But the present government has been taking concrete actions redressing the urgent and immediate problems of our people. This is a positive development.

The objective of our struggle is based on the concept of self-determination as articulated in the UN Charter and other instruments. We have always been consistent with our policy with regard to our struggle for self-determination. Tamil homeland, Tamil nationality and Tamils’ right to self-determination are the fundamentals underlying our political struggle. We have been insisting on these fundamentals from Thimpu to Thailand. Our position is that the Tamil national question should be resolved on the basis of these core principles. Tamils constitute themselves as a people, or rather as a national formation since they possess a distinct language, culture and history with a clearly defined homeland and a consciousness of their ethnic identity. As a distinct people they are entitled to the right to self-determination. The right to self-determination has two aspects: internal and external. The internal self-determination entitles a people to regional self-rule.

The Tamil people want to live in freedom and dignity in their own lands, in their historically constituted traditional lands without the domination of external forces. They want to protect their national identity pursing the development of their language, culture and economy. They want to live in their homeland under a system of self-rule. This is the political aspiration of our people. This constitutes the essential meaning of internal self-determination. We are prepared to consider favourably a political framework that offers substantial regional autonomy and self-government in our homeland on the basis of our right to internal self-determination. But if our people’s right to self-determination is denied and our demand for regional self-rule is rejected we have no alternative other than to secede and form an independent state.

Racism and racist oppression are the causative factors for rebellions and secessionist politics. The Sinhalese people should identify and reject the racist forces if they desire a permanent peace, ethnic harmony and economic prosperity. They should support, wholeheartedly, the efforts to find a political solution by peaceful means. The Sinhalese people should not oppose the Tamils’ aspirations to manage their own affairs under a system of self-rule in their own homeland. It is the politics of the Sinhala nation that will eventually determine whether the Sinhalese could peacefully co-exist with the Tamils or to compel the Tamils to secede.

We are pleased to note that the talks between the government and the LTTE are progressing forward under the conditions of mutual trust and goodwill. We are encouraged by the interest shown by the international community in the peace process and their willingness to offer assistance to rebuild the war damaged economy of the Tamil nation. It is our deepest desire that the current peace talks facilitated by Norway should succeed and all the communities living in the island should co-exist in harmony. If the Sinhala chauvinistic forces, for their own petty political reasons scuttle this peace effort which has raised high hopes and expectations and gained the support of the international community, the Tamil people will be compelled to pursue the path of secession and political independence,’ Mr Pirapaharan declared.

Regional Ethnic Autonomy

Regional Ethnic Autonomy

Equality, unity, mutual help and common prosperity are the basic principles of the Chinese government in handling the relations between ethnic groups. In accordance with these basic principles, China practices a regional ethnic autonomy system. Where ethnic minorities live in compact communities, autonomous organs of self-government are established under the unified leadership of the state. The minority people exercise autonomous rights, are masters in their own areas and administer their own internal affairs. Besides, the state makes great efforts to train ethnic minority cadres and professional technicians in institutions of higher learning, and universities, colleges and cadre schools for ethnic minorities. The Central Government also actively aids the ethnic autonomous areas with funds and materials so as to promote the development of the local economies and cultures. The Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy adopted in 1984 at the Second Session of the Sixth NPC is the basic law specifically guaranteeing that the constitutionally decreed regional ethnic autonomy system is carried out. Today, in addition to the five autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uygur, Guangxi Zhuang, Ningxia Hui, and Tibet autonomous regions), China has 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties (known, in some cases, as "banners"), as well as over 1,100 ethnic townships. The organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas are the people's congresses and people's governments of autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties (banners). The chairperson or vice-chairpersons of the standing committee of the people's congress and the head of an autonomous region, autonomous prefecture or autonomous county (banner) shall be citizens of the ethnic group exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned.

Organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas enjoy extensive self-government rights beyond those held by other state organs at the same level. These include: enacting regulations on the exercise of autonomy and separate regulations corresponding to the political, economic and cultural characteristics of the ethnic group(s) in the areas concerned; having the freedom to manage and use all revenues accruing to the ethnic autonomous areas; independently arranging and managing local economic development, education, science, culture, public health and physical culture, protecting and sorting out the cultural heritage of the ethnic groups, and developing and invigorating their cultures.

The EU should support the Kurds’ quest for regional autonomy in Iran

Berivan Öngörur, candidate for the European Parliament: It is imperative that the EU actively supports the Kurdish people’s right to regional autonomy in Iran.

Thirty years have passed since the revolution occurred in Iran. Since then, the country has been ruled by an Islamic fundamentalist regime. As a religious dictatorship, this regime has practiced an unprecedented brutality against religious and political dissent and the country’s ethnic and national groups; such as the Kurds, Azeri-Turks, Balochs and Arabs.
 
The Islamic Republic’s brutality against the Iranian people in general and the Kurds and other national groups in particular is in fact a continuation of the policies of the Pahlavi dynasty in the decades before the revolution in 1979. 
 
The Iranian dictatorship’s brutality and acts of terror is not confined to Iran’s territorial borders. Long before the contemporary academic and political debate on “transnational terrorism” in a globalized world – i.e. the organized form of political violence that transgresses state boarders – the Islamic Republic engaged in this form of political violence on regional and global levels. Iran’s support for various terrorist groups in the Middle East is something that began in the early 1980s. 

 

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR "TEN YEARS ALONG DECENTRALIZATION IN INDONESIA"

Following the dramatic 1998 overthrow of Suhartoos New Order, Indonesiaas 1999 Regional Autonomy Laws broke over 100 years of centralized government through far reaching administrative and political decentralization as well as new fiscal arrangements between the central government and the regions. This has had various consequences for land and other natural resources arrangements, among others through the ensuing revival of adapt law-discourse and the shift in orientation of district leaders from the centre to their local constituency. At the same time, however, central state law still applies and reduces their cope of lawful action. The dynamic interactions between central sate law, regional legislation, and the highly diverse regulating mechanisms, practical solutions and traditions of the Indonesian population from the core of this seminarrs subject.

Based on research data collected in various regions in Indonesia, this seminar seeks to analyze and understand the natural and local impact the new legal structure of regional autonomy on land and natural resources law at the district, municipal and village level. It aims to study how the state responds to local legal initiatives, how guardian institutionn control the acts of the newly empowered legislatures and executives, how the new system influences tenure security of common people and what use is being made of global discourses on rights and international legal orders. With that, the seminar seeks to draw conclusions on the process of rule of law formation at Indonesiaas lower levels of government ten years after onset of reform.

THE STUDENTS OF MAP UNS SRAGEN LEARNS FROM SRAGEN

SRAGEN-Sragen Government received a visit from Post Graduate students of Public Administration (MAP) class VII Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Surakarta on Wednesday (14/10). The visit took place in Citrayasa Room in the Official house of Sragen Regent, received by the Regional Secretary (Secretary) Sragen, Drs. Kushardjono. The delegation was led by the Chairman of MAP Study Program, Drs. Sudarmo, MA, PhD, accompanied by Drs. Revelation Nurhajadmo, M. Si, and Drs. Sonhaji, M.Sc.

Sudarmo explained that Sragen Regency has been successfully implemented decentralization and regional autonomy. This visit program functioned as a means ngangsu kawruh (learning) to understand these two policy issues (regional autonomy and decentralization) in the reality. It is expected that the information obtained can be used for transfer knowledge and experience to the students. By visiting the site directly then it will simplify and accelerate the students in finishing their studies.

On this occasion, Secretary explained that the short-term development priorities, medium-and long term planning in Sragen Regency covering education, economy and health. In carrying out this development, human resources (HR) development is more important than Natural Resources (SDA). Lack of natural resources in Sragen push the empowering of communities supported by a customized facilities.

Secretary explained further that autonomy is the reform mandate therefore all policies are implemented by standing up to the people. The Government supported by the officials functions as a public servant. Sragen itself provides excellent service to the public in administrative, facilitative and consultative field. While the empowering (public Empowering) of four pillars of people economy covering government sectors, private, community and academics.

Regional autonomy implementation is actually the local government authority followed by the development of bureaucratic reform. They are namely institutional arrangement, decentralization of authority at the lowest level (village), institutional innovation and optimizing the role of the regional work units (SKPD). To support the successful implementation of the bureaucracy reform, Information Technology (IT) has been built in Sragen. Even a computerized on-line system reached into the village level. By the placement program of three civil servants as extension officers, administration and IT-based, rural development is much faster implemented.

The optimizing of SKPD (departments) functions as the Revenue Center, Training Center, Production Center and Development Center, added the Seretary. While the civil servants in Sragen Regency uses the principle of “Five C“ of commitment, Consequent, Consistent, Continuous, and Conceptual.

In the middle of the occasion, there is souvenirs exchanging. It is followed by discussion and visiting to several institutions of the Women Empowering Departments, Bappeda (Regional Development Departments) and the Department of Education.

Government told to rethink regional autonomy

Erwida Maulia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/16/2009 9:19 AM  |  National

The government and lawmakers have been urged to reevaluate the regional autonomy policy, which in 10 years has led to the creation of more than 200 new regions which have not always improved conditions for local communities.

The executive director of the Regional Administration Innovation Foundation (YIPD), Alit Merthayasa, on Wednesday said the creation of new regions, while drawing money from the central government, inevitably led to a reduction in the amount of funds disbursed to existing regions.

“New autonomous regions need large sums of money to finance infrastructure, public facilities and government offices, and to pay the salaries of new regional heads and their staff, and councilors.

“Meanwhile, other regions not involved in the creation of these new regions will see smaller portions of the general allocation funds [DAU] from the central government,” Alit told a discussion here. The amount of DAU was not increased in line with increases in the number of regions, he added.

While many new regions were created for the sake of, among other things, simplifying administrative procedures for public services, in many cases these services ended up worse off because of typical fund management inefficiency and the lack of human resources endemic to new regions, Alit said.

Robert Endi Jaweng from the Working Group on Regional Autonomy said in the first five years, new regions would usually undergo an administrative transition period, during which development agendas left by past administrations had to be delayed.

Typically, the poor capacity of new administrations meant new regions’ aspirations for faster economic growth ended in slower growth instead, he said.

A professor in planology from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Tommy Firman, said despite aims to settle conflicts, newly-formed regions often engaged in conflicts with neighbors, for example over water resources and other strategic needs.

“And we’ve seen many powerful elites emerge in regions and more corrupt leaders than we had
previously.

“We’ve often heard news about these regents getting questioned by the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission], being imprisoned, etc,” Tommy said.

Since the enactment of the regional autonomy law in 1999, Indonesia has seen seven new provinces and 196 new regencies and municipalities. This brings Indonesia’s total number of provinces to 33 and regencies/municipalities to 491 (from 26 and 293 before 1999).

Speakers at the Wednesday discussion entitled “Creation of New Regions and Democracy in Indonesia” agreed that forming new regions should not be forbidden, but that policy makers should first conduct comprehensive evaluations of the implementation of the policy and regulation tools that support it.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for a moratorium on the creation of new administrative regions, following the death of North Sumatra council speaker Abdul Aziz Angkat in
February.

Abdul died from a heart attack just hours after a mob assaulted him during a violent protest to demand the creation of a new province, Tapanuli.

House of Representatives speaker Agung Laksono has said in response to Yudhoyono that the regional autonomy police do need to be reevaluated.

Tibetans Participate In Human Rights Summit in Geneva

Tibetans Participate In Human Rights Summit in Geneva

 The Second Geneva Summit on Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy is being organised jointly by over 25 human rights groups from across the globe.

The Tibetan Women's Association in Switzerland is one of the organisers of the two-day conference which started yesterday in Geneva. The conference features political dissidents and activists from Iran, China, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and Vietnam.

John Suarez of the Cuban democracy group, Directorio, opened the session. Recalling the spirit of the summit's co-chairs, Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, he urged human rights defenders to come together, brainstorm and collaborate.

Another Cuban dissident, Nestor Rodríguez Lobaina, has been barred by the Cuban government to attend the conference. "Yet, thanks to the mobilization of international organizations and civil society, you can contribute to making sure democracies fulfill their responsibility to humanity," said Isabel Rochat, Conseil d'Etat of Geneva. "We may forgive but we will never forget. That is the best response to indifference."

Speakers of the first panel titled “Rising Powers, Rising Rights Compliance? Case Study of China” included Ms. Rabi Kadeer, Uyghur activist, Ms. Phuntsog Nyidron, former Tibetan political prisoner and Mr.Yang Jianli, Chinese dissident who shared their personal stories of suffering and survival from brutal oppression of Chinese communist regime.

Called the "mother of the Uyghur nation," Rebiya Kadeer spent six years in a Chinese prison after standing up to the authoritarian Chinese government. Her own sons are serving decade long sentences in China without due process. She also told that the case of a young Uyghur protester, whose wounded, lifeless body was anonymously returned to his family. The Chinese government has cut internet and telephone communications," said Kadeer. Many other such cases exist and are not recorded.

Moderator Ambassador Alfred Moses underlined that "the repressive regime in China will not survive. Oppression cannot survive. “

The panel's second speaker, Mr. Yang Jianli, said that he was locked in solitary confinement for five years after taking part in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. He pressed the importance of the Internet to push forward democracy in China. Mr. Jianli said, "The cost of censorship will outpace the cost of circumventing censorship. It will be impossible to maintain, China will not be able to control the will of a billion citizens."

Ms. Phuntsok Nyidron, former political prisoner and the recipient of 1996 Reebok Human Rights Award said that she was given total of 17 years sentence. Her crimes were secretly recording songs with inmates in praise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in prison and saying “Long Live Dalai Lama and “Free Tibet”.

She further said that "I want to tell you what a day was like in a Chinese prison. My right hand was stretched over my right shoulder and a guard stood on a table and pulled me up by my handcuffs. Electric batons were put in my mouth, my fingers were poked by shoe sewing machine needles and cigarettes burned on my face. I was shocked with electric wires until I fell unconscious. The prison guard poured cold water to wake me up and tortured me again. That day, I was neither given a single drop of water nor food."

She urged audiences to help protect and support rights of Tibetan people who have been struggling for their basic rights under brutal Chinese communist regime through non-violence.

According to organisers, over 800 participants had signed up to this conference from 50 countries. Yesterday's conference was attended by over 200 people including some diplomats.

Tibet’s human rights issues raised at the 13th session of UN Human Rights Council

Tibet’s human rights issues raised at the 13th session of UN Human Rights Council

Geneva, 16 March 2010

The 13th session of UN Human Rights Council has entered its third week in Geneva to address human rights violations happening around the globe. Members of Tibetan delegation have been monitoring and following this session. Tibetan delegates made two statements yesterday and one this morning raising issues on torture, religious freedom, disappearances and forced resettlement of nomads.

Mr. Tenzin Samphel KAYTA on behalf of Society for Threatened Peoples drew the Council’s attention about Chinese government’s repeatedly failure to provide a clear picture of situation on many Tibetan detainees who were subjected to routine torture and senseless beatings following the 2008 Uprisings. He said Chinese authorities even refuted the tortured victim’s footage shown all over the world on Youtube website as fabricated. However, the original source fervently maintained its authenticity.

Despite the Special Rapporteur on Torture’s recommendations to China following the fact-finding mission in 2005, China is still practicing consistent patterns of torture against Tibetan detainees including monks and nuns, which emerged during the past two years with impunity.

In another statement, Mr. KAYTA said, Chinese authorities’ brutal crackdown is still continuing in Tibet with thousands of Tibetans detained for their non-violent freedom struggle. He informed the Council that “On the 51st Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising of 10 March 1959, the Dalai Lama said that there is a serious problem in Tibet yet advocated "to enter into talks with the People's Republic of China to resolve the issue of Tibet through the Middle-Way Approach …" He further said that since 10 March 2008, Tibetan sources[1] document that 228 Tibetans have died under the crackdown, 1,294 injured, 4,657 arbitrarily detained, 371 sentenced with 990 disappeared. Four Tibetans were executed in Lhasa on 20 October 2009 (China confirmed only two). 11 Tibetans were sentenced to life imprisonment. In majority of the cases the defendants had no independent legal counsel and when a lawyer of choice represented the defendants, the authorities either blocked representations through intimidation or procedural grounds.

With regard to situation of religious freedom in Tibet, he referred to the 10th March statement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who said "the Chinese authorities are conducting various political campaigns, including patriotic re-education campaign, in many monasteries in Tibet. They are putting the monks and nuns in prison-like conditions, depriving them the opportunity to study and practice in peace. These conditions make the monasteries function more like museums and are intended to deliberately annihilate Buddhism."

Recently a Chinese official reported on 4 March that the police raided a total of 4,115 rented accommodations …more than 70 guest houses, internet cafes, entertainment Center and bars detaining "a total of 435 people." Moreover, a few foreign journalists who were invited by the government during the period witnessed Chinese security forces with automatic rifles patrolling the streets of Lhasa.

Since Beijing claims the situation is “normal” on the Tibetan Plateau, he asked, “Why these severe crackdowns upon the Tibetan people by Chinese authorities. He urged the Chinese authorities to fully implement the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur and also that of the Committee against Torture and Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and provide a credible clarification on the use of torture against Tibetan detainees who today number in thousands. He also urged the Chinese authorities to fulfil its pledge by receiving the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent mission to all affected Tibetan areas and Xinjiang.

Today Mrs. Tsering Jampa on behalf of Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights drew the Council’s attention about China’s failure to respond positively to the Press Statement of 10 April 2008 issued by seven the UN Special Procedures mandate holders calling for visit to Tibetan Autonomous Region. Concerning disappearance cases, she said the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances’s report indicated 28 unresolved cases with China including Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, XIth Panchen Lama of Tibet who disappeared at the age of 6 since May 1995. She said since 1997, China failed to provide document as requested by the WGEID to support China’s eclaim that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family wished not be disturbed by outsiders. Similarly, China also ignored call by the UN Committee on Rights of the Child that independent expert be allowed to visit the Panchen Lama to confirm his well-being”. She also informed that the Council that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is turning 21 next month. Thus, she urged Chinese authorities to provide full evidence to support its claim including the recent remarks by Chinese official saying “Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is living in Tibet”. She brought to attention of the Council that Chinese government is implementing the resettlement policy which forcibly relocates thousands of Tibetan nomads from its ancestral land without consent of the Tibetan people. As this misguided policy wipes out the nomadic way of Tibetan people’s life, she urged Chinese government to immediately impose a moratorium on all resettlement programmes until independent experts carry out a review of policies that require or produce displacement and resettlement of Tibetan herders and other rural Tibetan population in all Tibetan areas.

Chinese delegation in the plenary session made rhetoric statement by saying that Tibet witnessed the growth of 12.3% GDP and respecting rights of ethnic minorities.

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights welcomed China’s announcement at this Council session that the Chinese authorities will receive the Special Rapporteur on the right to Food for an official mission which we hope will include visits to Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The statement said: "But we do recall that China failed to fulfil its pledge made at the UPR of China that it will receive one Special Procedure mandate-holder in 2009 and this reminds us that while having invited the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief in 2004, China refused to confirm dates when requested by the Special Rapporteur."

Despite limited time slot officially allocated for NGOs, Tibetan delegates were able to raise some of the key human rights issues of our concern at this session.